Lambda Legal and Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger PLLC filed a federal lawsuit challenging Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois’s (“BCBSIL”) administration of a blanket exclusion of gender-affirming care in an employer-provided health insurance plan provided by Catholic Health Initiatives Franciscan.
Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s recent executive order that prohibits federal contractors and grantees from conducting workplace diversity trainings or engaging in grant-funded work that explicitly acknowledges and confronts the existence of structural racism and sexism in our society. The order describes trainings that cover topics such as implicit bias or critical race theory as divisive and un-American, and directs agencies to suspend or deny funding to contractors and grantees whose trainings or grant-funded activities cover these topics.
Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) led a coalition of LGBTQ advocacy organizations and legal aid groups in submitting a proposed amicus brief urging California’s Fifth Appellate District to reverse a trial court ruling against Maddie Wade, a former employee of Starbucks in Fresno.
Lambda Legal, with Immigration Equality and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against the U.S. Department of State for refusing to recognize the citizenship of Kessem Kiviti, the daughter of married U.S. citizens Roee and Adiel Kiviti. The Department of State’s policy treats the children of U.S. citizens in same-sex marriages as “born out of wedlock,” unconstitutionally stripping these children of their citizenship and inappropriately adding a “biological relationship” requirement to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Lambda Legal, with Immigration Equality, and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the U.S. Department of State for refusing to recognize the citizenship of Simone Mize-Gregg, the daughter of U.S. citizens Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg. The Department of State’s policy treats the children of U.S. citizens in same-sex marriages as “born out of wedlock,” unconstitutionally stripping these children of their citizenship and inappropriately adding a “biological relationship” requirement to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Lambda Legal, the ACLU, ACLU of South Carolina, and South Carolina Equality Coalition are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the state of South Carolina on behalf of a married lesbian couple, Eden Rogers and Brandy Welch, who were turned away by a government-funded foster care agency for failing to meet the agency’s religious criteria, which exclude prospective foster parents who are not evangelical Protestant Christian or who are same-sex couples of any faith.
Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit to compel the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release information about their communications with anti-LGBTQ organizations and decisions pertaining to the health care and well-being of LGBTQ people, including the alleged suspension of the publication and implementation of LGBTQ nondiscrimination rules and regulations.
Lambda Legal filed a motion on behalf of a 75-year-old gay man arguing that the Social Security Administration’s denial of spousal survivor’s benefits to him, on the grounds that he was not recognized as married for long enough despite discriminatory marriage laws that prevented him from marrying earlier, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed on behalf of Frederick Colosimo, who was in a 43-year committed relationship with his husband, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, argues that SSA’s imposition of a nine-month marriage requirement for Social Security survivor’s benefits is unconstitutional where same-sex couples were not able to be recognized as married for nine months because of discriminatory marriage laws.
Lambda Legal, Just Detention International (JDI), and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Chase Edward Lucas urging the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a district court’s judgment that dismissed Lucas’s complaint alleging denial of medical care and discriminatory treatment because of his sexual orientation. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”) the district court dismissed the complaint at the screening stage for failure to state a claim and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
Lambda Legal, Modern Military Association of America (MMAA), with partner law firm Winston & Strawn, filed a lawsuit on behalf of two HIV-positive members of the United States Air Force who were given discharge orders just days before the holiday season.
